A process of window dressing

The government has put its chief apple polisher, Candice Hoeppner, in charge of the ad hoc panel that will look at candidates to fill two Supreme Court vacancies. Predictably, people will cry foul and the panel will ensure that only
Conservative-leaning judges are appointed. It should be worth remembering that this is just window dressing to make the process
look more open, transparent and democratic. Essentially, the same list of candidates will be put forward to the PM for him to make the
final decision. The few extra steps are only for show. Really, nothing to see
here.

Here’s a look at MPs who failed to file
their ethical disclosures.

Conservative MP Royal Galipeau doesn’t want
to remove the “Support Our Troops” sticker he’s placed in his Parliament Hill
office window, despite the fact that these kinds of signs aren’t
allowed. They aren’t permitted because MPs have put other, more
controversial signs in their windows, such as pro-life messages. This has been a
problem in the past, and it will likely be again if Galipeau is allowed to do it.

While in Costa Rica, Harper said he’s
looking at taking a tougher stance on Syria.

Amnesty International responds to Jason
Kenney’s snarky letter by reminding him about Canada’s international
obligations regarding war criminals and crimes against humanity. Kenney, meanwhile, says he was inspired to write his letter to “correct
the record” based on Stéphane Dion’s letters to Jacques Parizeau. Somehow, I
doubt that Dion was as dismissive or threw tantrums in writing form.

Here’s a closer look at some of the problems with Immigration and Refugee Board determinations and the current appeals process, which isn’t really much of one. As a result of this, we don’t know if the IRB determinations that Kenney is relying on are flawed or not.

And the Federal Court has ruled that CSIS
really, really should rethink its decision to censor historical documents about RCMP surveillance of Tommy Douglas. We’ll see if

that happens.